Earl Grey Ice Cream Food

EARL GREY ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Prepare an ice bath, and set aside. Combine the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat until pale yellow and very thick, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Place the milk, cream, and tea bags in a medium saucepan, and bring mixture to a boil. Remove from heat; cover, and let steep for 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags, and return the mixture to a boil. Gradually pour half of the milk mixture into the egg-yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Return the combined mixture to the saucepan.
• Cook combined mixture over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain the mixture into a bowl set in the ice bath, and chill completely. Freeze in an ice-cream maker, according to manufacturer's instructions, until the ice cream just holds its shape. Transfer the ice cream to a metal loaf pan, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze until firm, at least 2 hours.

EARL GREY TEA ICE CREAM

Steps:

• 1. Pour the cream and milk into a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water). Whisk in 1/2 cup (100 grams) of the sugar, the tea, and the salt and stir until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Warm the mixture until you see steam rising from the top. Remove from the heat and strain the mixture into a bowl, pressing on the tea leaves to extract as much infused liquid as possible. Discard the tea leaves and return the infused dairy mixture to the double boiler.
• 2. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath in a large bowl and set another bowl over it. Set aside.
• 3. In a medium bowl, with a kitchen towel underneath it to prevent slipping, whisk together the egg yolks with the remaining 1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar until uniform. While whisking, add a splash of the hot dairy mixture to the yolks. Continue to add the dairy mixture, whisking it in bit by bit, until you've added about half. Add the yolk mixture to the remaining dairy mixture in the double boiler. Set the heat under the double boiler to medium and cook the custard, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon and reducing the heat to medium-low as necessary, until steam begins to rise from the surface and the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Hold the spoon horizontally and run your finger through the custard. If the trail left by your finger stays separated, the custard is ready to be cooled.
• 4. Strain the custard into the bowl sitting over the prepared ice bath and stir for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the custard has cooled. Transfer the custard to a quart-size container, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or, preferably, overnight.
• 5. Pour the chilled custard into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Place the container in which you refrigerated the custard in the freezer so you can use it to store the finished ice cream. Churn the ice cream until the texture resembles "soft serve." Transfer the ice cream to the chilled storage container and freeze until hardened to your desired consistency. Alternatively, you can serve it immediately-it will be the consistency of gelato. The ice cream will keep, frozen, for up to 7 days.

EARL GREY ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Split the vanilla bean open and scrape the seeds into a heavy, 1 gallon pot. Put in the milk and 1 1/2 cups sugar and bring to a scald. Put in the tea bags and let steep for 20 minutes. Set aside.
• Using a tabletop mixer, place the yolks and sugar in the bowl and mix at medium-high speed until the yolks are stiffened and are a pale, yellow color.
• On low speed, gradually add about 2 cups of the hot milk and vanilla bean mixture. Bring this mixture back to the pot.
• Cook on medium-low heat until just thickened, and coats the back of a spoon. Immediately strain through a fine strainer and chill overnight. (Putting the tea bags back into the ice cream mixture.) This helps to infuse the flavor of the tea into the milk and cream. Freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

LEMON VERBENA AND EARL GREY TEA ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Make your Earl Grey tea, with loose tea or tea bags, if you must! Then add the dried lemon verbena, or 10 large fresh lemon verbena leaves, stir well and allow to infuse for 10 minutes.
• Put the freshly brewed Earl Grey tea, single cream and milk into a pan and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until they thicken and pale. Remove the milk mixture from the heat, then whisk it into the egg mix.
• Put the whole lot back onto a gentle heat until it thickens, stirring very regularly. On no account should you let this boil, otherwise the eggs will scramble. Set it aside to cool with a dampened circle of greaseproof paper on the top, to stop a skin forming.
• When cool, either churn in an ice cream maker, adding the whipping cream towards the end of churning, or pour into a freezer-proof container, then cover it and freeze until half frozen. At this point, scoop it into a bowl, then whisk up the whipping cream and fold it into the ice cream. Put it back into the freezer until it is of ice cream consistency. You can repeat this as often as you can be bothered, to reduce the amount of crystals in the finished ice cream.
• Remove from the freezer at least 10 minutes before serving. Store for up to 3 months in the freezer.